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JD's Thoughts and Images

Category Archives: Sunset

Off the coast of Washington sits a small outcropping of rock called Destruction Island.

Destruction Island

The Hoh Indians visited the island for centuries. Spanish ships visited the island in the late 1700’s. They named it Isla de Dolores (Isle of Sorrow) due to killing of part of a Spanish crew by the Indians. Later the same fate waited for a British crew and they named the river into Ruby Beach Destruction River.

Completed in 1891, the lighthouse began functioning the following year. It continued functioning for over a century, until the Coast Guard discontinued operation in 2008. You can read more about the lighthouse here.

The island is viewed from along the Olympic National Park coastal section. We like to visit the Ruby Beach area and start hiking up and down from there. Many people come there to photograph the sunsets along the coast.

There are places along the highways that one never thinks of as photographic opportunities. Placed many miles apart, they are never near when you need them. In our state of Washington, there is one along interstate 90 that almost splits the state in half. Whether heading east to visit relatives, or west to return to the comforts of home; if one times it right, it is an opportunity for beautiful displays in the sky. These pictures are in honor of our favorite rest stop in the middle of our state… the Schrag rest area.

A Storm at Sunset

Looking West to the Cascades

The Sunset while Eastbound

Looking South from the Eastbound side

The Schrag rest stop, a place we always seem to hit at sunset. It must be our timing.